Photos from Japan

One month in Japan - part touring around the country, part trying to make it my home. I'm taking a quick break in Bangkok at the moment but will return to Tokyo shortly.

Outside the Shibuya metro station in Tokyo

Mount Fuji behind the mist

Catching the tail end of sakura season

Matsumoto Castle - one of the oldest standing feudal castles in Japan

Horse meat for dinner, a regional specialty of Matsumoto. I had huge moral misgivings about eating horse as I consider it one of those animals on the border of being too intelligent to eat. Still, I didn't stop and the meal was absolutely delicious.

Traditional Japanese dinner. My favorite meal of the trip.

Scene from the Nakasendo trail - the ancient highway connecting Kyoto and Edo

Still on the Nakasendo trail. It's like a scene straight out of 'Lone Wolf and Cub'

In 1716, a large tree was chopped down and two baby trees planted in its place. The two trees have since grown to completely engulf the trunk and even merge into a single tree at the base. Toward the top, you can see where the two trees split off from their shared trunk.

Kobe steak in the city of Kobe

Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto

Can't stand the weird love-hate relationship Japan has with smokers. People are allowed to ruin the air in restaurants and bars with their smoking but in the outdoors, they're herded into unventilated boxes to keep them away from the public eye.